Dear Parents/Carers,

Earlier this week, our Director of Schools, Mr Peter Hill, sent an email to all staff who work in our system of schools. The theme of the email was on 'hope' and he referred specifically to a book written two years ago by Pope Francis which was called 'On Hope.' This book provides us with a guide about how we can work at keeping hope alive and remain hopeful in daily life. 

In summary, this is what Peter thinks Pope Francis is encouraging:

1. Trust that you are where you are meant to be in this moment
2. Don’t give in to bitterness and despair
3. Concentrate on faith, hope and love
4. Maintain a connection to a community of hope
5. Have faith that God wants you to flourish
6. Don’t brood self-indulgently
7. Attend to the whisperings of the spirit in your heart by turning towards others

Keeping hope alive takes patience: patience with ourselves, with others and with God. We need plenty of patience at the moment dealing with this pandemic because patience is the mother of hope. I pray that you can continue to find moments of hope in during this time.

Remote Learning

Our teachers are continually exploring ways in which they can support the various learning needs of the children. They are differentiating tasks in a number of ways, such as: providing different options as to how students may present their work; providing tasks on the same concept that vary in complexity and difficulty so that each child is capable of achieving success; providing tasks considered 'must dos' which all children would be capable of completing and 'can dos' which are more challenging. Many of these strategies are also used in face-to-face teaching.

The delivery of tasks is also being varied by teachers to support student learning, such as: adding voice recorded instructions to assist the children's understanding; breaking down a task into smaller sections so that it doesn't seem overwhelming; using the class Zoom sessions to revise previous tasks for students to assist their understanding.

I am constantly amazed at the creativity, flexibility and dedication that our teachers are showing in order to support the learning of their students. They know that remote learning has significant limitations, however they are working hard to provide achievable and engaging tasks for the children. 

Parent Survey

Thank you to the many parents who completed the survey sent last Friday regarding potential Zoom workshops. Staff are now preparing workshops on topics that were of greater importance to you with the aim of making these avaliable next week. More details will be made available soon on Compass.

End of Term 3

Our 'Dates to Remember' section of the Newsletter this term has indicated that Term 3 will end on Thursday 16 September. This will remain in place regardless of whether we are still in remote learning or have returned to face-to-face learning. Friday 17 September will be a pupil-free day, as staff will be engaged in our annual Spiritual Formation Day. This will be held off site so there will not be any staff at St John's on that day. Aspire will be open on Friday 17 September to provide care for your child if you are an essential worker.

I continue to pray for all of you during this challenging time.

Paul Moroney

Principal